Scout and updated pics of kiddos

About a month ago someone new joined our family. No, no, not a baby. This little guy.

He is a golden retriever named Scout and we adore him, especially now that he's learned to go potty outside.

And of course, updated photos of my crazy Jack (now 3, loves playing in the snow and riding his bike and frolicking in the mud when it's warm enough) and gorgeous Lily (14 months and loves blueberries and walking now that she's figured out how).

A thought post

The other day, an acquaintance shared the following rather offensive (in my opinion) parenting diatribe on facebook. (I'd rather not cite who it was, and since I'm pretty sure all of maybe 5 people read my blog, I highly doubt I'll get busted for plagiarism. So suffice it to say,an anonymous facebook acquaintance of mine posted it from someone else, so I don't even know who wrote it originally).

 Dear Mom On the iPhone,

I see you over there on the bench, messing on your iPhone. It feels good to relax a little while your kids have fun in the sunshine, doesn’t it? You are doing a great job with your kids, you work hard, you teach them manners, have them do their chores.

But Momma, let me tell you what you don’t see right now…..

Your little girl is spinning round and round, making her dress twirl. She is such a little beauty queen already, the sun shining behind her long hair. She keeps glancing your way to see if you are watching her.

You aren’t.

Your little boy keeps shouting, “Mom, MOM watch this!” I see you acknowledge him, barely glancing his way.

He sees that too. His shoulders slump, but only for a moment, as he finds the next cool thing to do.

Now you are pushing your baby in the swing. She loves it! Cooing and smiling with every push. You don’t see her though, do you? Your head is bent, your eyes on your phone as you absently push her swing.

Talk to her. Tell her about the clouds, Mommy. The Creator who made them. Tickle her tummy when she comes near you and enjoy that baby belly laugh that leaves far too quickly.

Put your eyes back on your prize…Your kids.

Show them that they are the priority. Wherever you are, be ALL there. I am not saying it’s not ok to check in on your phone, but it’s a time-sucker: User Beware!

Play time at the park will be over before you know it.

The childhood of your children will be gone before you know it.

They won’t always want to come to the park with you, Mommy. They won’t always spin and twirl to make their new dress swish, they won’t always call out, “WATCH ME!”

There will come a point when they stop trying, stop calling your name, stop bothering to interrupt your phone time.

Because they know…

You’ve shown them, all these moments, that the phone is more important than they are. They see you looking at it at while waiting to pick up brother from school, during playtime, at the dinner table, at bedtime…..

I know that’s not true, Mommy.

I know your heart says differently.

But your kids can’t hear your words, Mommy. Your actions are screaming way too loudly.

May our eyes rest upon those we love, first and foremost, and may everything else fall away in the wonderful, noisy, sticky-fingered glory of it all."

I have several major issues with the kind of attitude that would make someone write this. 

1. My first thought, of course, is "stop watching my kids so closely, creep." Seriously, you were so busy watching this woman ignore her kids that you were probably ignoring yours, making you a hypocrite.

2. So you saw a mom on her phone for 45 minutes out of her day (all of which was likely spent with her kids). How do you know she hasn't been paying full attention to them for the rest of the day? You rather arrogantly assume that she spends ALL her time on her phone. She isn't allowed to take a break and unwind? Email a friend, do some shopping, read or watch a tv show while her kids are entertained elsewhere for a small part of the day? Yes, yes, of course taking a break means you don't care about your kids, right?

3. The fact that they are continually trying get their mother's attention means that she probably DOES answer them most of the time. She's probably already watched the little girl spin around in her dress 500 times today. She's probably already tickled the baby 100 times and played games with her little boy. So can the judgement and don't assume you know how someone parents her kids by watching for a few minutes at the park. You know what they say about assuming.

4. Looking at your iPhone is simply this generation's version of moms at the park chatting with other moms. When I was a kid, sometimes my mom ignored my screams to "look at me, look at me" so she could chat with her friends, or read a book, or (if we were at home) watch her favorite show. Guess what? I never thought my mom didn't love me or cared about those things more than me. I also learned that it's not all about me and that I don't get to be the center of attention all the time. It taught me that my mom is an individual, with her own interests, and that I was not her sole reason for existing. Those are important lessons for kids to learn, and I fully intend to teach them to mine. 

5. I also can't stand admonitions to enjoy the "noisy, sticky-fingered glory of it all." As a parent, I deal with noise and sticky fingers ALL DAY LONG. Taking a break from it when I get a chance doesn't make me a bad mother.

6. Lastly, I am of course annoyed that it's addressed only to a mom. Where are the obnoxious admonitions to dads to enjoy these glorious "sticky fingered" moments? Are moms the only ones who are obligated to sacrifice their entire sense of self to devote every second of every day to making their kids feel like extra special flowers?

My kids are still young enough that when we go to the park, I generally have to supervise so they don't get hurt (although at 3, Jack is getting pretty independent). But once they are old enough to get on the swing by themselves and climb without falling, then you better believe I will be sitting on the bench, chatting with people or playing on my phone. Because it's a GOOD thing for them to learn to entertain themselves and play with other kids without mommy being constantly involved.

In conclusion, I adore my kids. They are the light of my life. But I don't sugar-coat it, either, and I freely admit that I often need a break. So I want to know--what do you think? Am I overly sensitive to find this to be obnoxious and judgmental tripe? Do you agree? This will tell me if anyone is still reading my blog (since I basically never update it.) Next up, I'm posting pictures of my kids. Promise. 

Some cute pictures of some cute kids

Pictures from fall 2012, in no particular order. Jack is 2.5, Lily is now 10.5 months! The first one includes their cute little cousins who live in Georgia.

Um...

I promise I did not write that in one giant paragraph. Don't know why blogger did that.

Still Alive!

Well, after a year I have finally decided to write another blog post! I can't promise much more than that, though. Here's the big stuff that has happened in the last year.

1. On January 4 2012, we welcomed baby Lily into our family. She is perfect in every way and we are so glad to have her. Her big brother adores her and she adores him too.

2. I started working again. About three months after I got laid off, my boss called and offered me my job back. I took it, because I love that job. So I've been back at work full time since July, minus my 12-week maternity leave. It actually worked out really well for me--I had horrific morning sickness the whole time I was laid off and I don't know how I would have worked through it.

3. My sweet Jack is two, and is not always so sweet. But even during the worst tantrums, I can't stay mad at that little boy. He says the funniest things. It is so entertaining to see how his mind works and catch a glimpse of what he is thinking. I'm always amazed by the things he picks up from people around him. When I'm surprised by something he says, I can usually trace it back to something Derek or I say regularly, but not always. Some examples: -after his absolute favorite treat of chocolate milk, he sets his cup down and exclaims "that's deLICious chocolate milk" (he says that with lots of foods, but is particularly enthusiastic about chocolate milk)-the other day I told him we were going to the zoo, and he replied "that's fanTASTic! See tigers!"-when Lily is crying, he asks "what's the matter, Lily? Hug and kiss" then gives her a hug and kiss. When she stops crying, he says "Lily not sad anymore. Lily happy"-I could go on all day, but I will spare you.

4. Derek is almost done with this phase of medical school. He is taking his board exam in June, and after that he will start rotations in the hospital. Meaning that he is done with sitting in a classroom and studying 24/7 forever. We can't wait. We chose to stay in Erie for rotations since I already have a job here (other options were at various towns in PA and Ohio). So two more years in Erie we will be. Until I can find a peaceful moment with Derek to help me figure out how to upload pictures onto the iPad, this post will remain pictureless. Sorry for the boringness.

The cast is off!

Jack got his cast off yesterday! Thank goodness. This was the third one! The first one (green) started to slide down when the swelling went down. So we went back in and got an orange one. It was on tighter so I thought we were good.

Less than 24 hours later, Jack was in a shopping cart at the grocery store. I heard something hit the floor and saw the cast bouncing away. So back to the doctor we went. And since nothing else would stay on his leg, we had to get an above-the-knee cast.

Fortunately, Jack didn't care much. Within a few days he had figured out how to walk on it. It was with a pretty bad limp, but still. He didn't let it get him down!


And now, it's off! The x-ray showed that he had healed completely in just 3 weeks. He has relearned how to walk with two good legs and is happy to be himself again. Personally, I was the most happy that I could give him a real bath (which I did as soon as we got home). In case you noticed in the video, we buzzed his hair so it would be easier to clean when when he could only have sponge baths. It did make it easier but I miss that hair! It was getting so long!

Trip to the ER

I figured a trip to the ER was bound to happen sometime, since Jack is a curious kid who gets into everything. It was only a matter of time before he hurt himself. I just never thought the first time it would actually be my fault. I've never had to go to the ER for myself, never had a broken bone, never needed stitches. Oh, the irony.

So yesterday morning I was walking down the stairs holding Jack. I slipped and slid down 5 or 6 stairs on my butt. I didn't let go of Jack, and once I had stabilized myself Jack had started to scream. It looked to me like he had hit his head on the wall. He's hit his head lots of times, so I comforted him and waited for him to calm down. He normally stops crying and forgets all about it in a minute or two, but this time he didn't stop screaming. Jack has never cried for long, even as a newborn. After 15 or so minutes of trying to calm him down I started to get worried that something was seriously wrong. I called the pediatrician and as soon as I said he hit his head and was acting different than usual, they said to go straight to the ER. So off we went.

He cried the whole way there, which I was grateful for, because I thought he might have a concussion and I didn't want him to go to sleep. We got there and he didn't have any kind of a bump on his head, or any signs of a head injury at all. He just wouldn't stop screaming, which is really abnormal for him. The resident first said that it was probably nothing, and since there were no outward signs of a head injury, I should just go home and watch him for any changes. We had skipped breakfast (the fall happened first thing in the morning) so they thought he might just be hungry. He had a snack and then resumed screaming. Then the attending doc came in. He said that the cutoff for him is if a kid is acting abnormally, and I insisted that I didn't want to overreact, but that this was certainly not normal. So he ordered a CT scan.

After the CT, Derek came from school to help out. Jack had finally calmed down by now but he still wasn't his usual self. He wasn't trying to get off of my lap and explore everything like he usually does. I slowly started to put together all of the evidence of what had happened that morning. A few times I had tried to put him down to walk around to see if that would make him feel better (it usually does) but it only made him scream more. I remembered that while he was having his snack I had touched his leg and he had started to cry. So I told Derek to try standing him up. He of course screamed. We looked closer and saw that his left ankle was swollen and he cried if we touched it. I realized that instead of hitting his head, I must have landed on his leg. I have no idea why I jumped right to assuming he hit his head. Just then the resident came over and here's how the conversation went:

Resident: Well, the CT looks fine so you guys are good to go. How's he doing?

Me: I really hate to do this to you, but I think it's his ankle. Look at the swelling.

Resident: You're right, let's do an x-ray.

(After the x-ray)
Resident: Well, his leg is broken.

Yes, that's right folks, I broke my baby's leg. And I didn't figure it out until after a CT scan for a suspected head injury. I think Jack has now been exposed to more radiation than I've been exposed to in my entire life. The break is right above his ankle, a partial fracture of the lower tibia. I spent most the night crying about it. Fortunately, I think it's been harder on me than him. The worst part for me is thinking about how much his leg was hurting him, and I had no idea! I wasn't being at all careful with it, I probably bumped it when I put him in the carseat and changed his clothes. I feel terrible about that! I wish I had realized that it was his leg, not his head! Now that he's getting some pain medicine and his leg is in a cast, he seems rather unfazed by the whole thing.

They sent him home in a splint and ace wrap with instructions to come back the next day for a cast. An orthopedic surgeon saw him and reassured me that kids heal from broken bones really well, and that the break was not near the growth plates so it won't have any lasting problems. He does have to be in a bulky cast that can't get wet for 4-6 weeks. So sponge baths only and no swimming. Now for some pictures.
This is the first day, before the real cast. It breaks my heart how sad he looks.
This is shortly after the cast. He looks much happier than yesterday.
It's all downhill from here. He is fine now except for when he tries to stand up, so we're back to crawling for now. Here's to hoping for a quick and easy recovery for Jack.

Catching Up

Terrible blogger here. It was a comment left by an old friend and reading her awesome blog that inspired me to post an update! So here's what's new with the Goodyears.

-We have survived the Erie winter. I thought I knew bad winters and that I could handle anything. Utah is known for it's snow, right? Was I in for a shock! Winter here is miserable. I go for days without leaving the house, I have to dig the car out on a regular basis, and there are no breaks from the bitter, icy cold. But it's finally ending! I did get some cute pictures out of it, though.

-Speaking of cars, we finally bought our first "real" one. I say real because it has cruise control, power windows, keyless entry, and is big enough that we don't have to scoot the passenger seat all the way forward just so the carseat will fit. It's a 2006 red Toyota Camry and we've actually had it since November. It was my Grandma's car, and she keeps her cars in immaculate condition. We're talking towels on the seats and floors so no one ever actually touches them. It's certainly not that clean anymore, but it's still the nicest thing we've ever owned (not to mention that she gave us a killer deal on it!). Derek's brother David was nice enough to drive it out here for us (he likes driving, although I think he got tired of it on that trip) so we got to have a houseguest for a couple days.

-I chopped my hair. I always go in cycles of chopping then growing it long, but always wishing it was longer. Not anymore. I'm done with long hair. It will be staying short. I get an hour back in the mornings, and I no longer have a temptation for Jack's surprisingly strong little fists hanging from my head.

-Jack is 14 months and is walking! He holds his arms out for balance and looks like a cute baby Frankenstein of sorts. He's also hit a bajillion other milestones since I last posted. He is eating most everything, including crayons and desitin when given the chance (no joke, the other day I left his room for 30 seconds, and came back to find him with the desitin tube open and white all around his mouth. Was that good, Jack?) We got him a forward facing car seat, which he loved, after a series of tantrums when being put in the old seat. A week later we turned it back around when new recommendations came out. Tough break, kiddo.


-Jack also says a few words and is just starting to grasp the concept of meaningful communication. Our awesome babysitter taught him some signs (for "eat" and "more"), and he actually says "all done" by holding out his hands and saying "ah ah." We figured out what it meant when he consistently refused to eat anymore after doing that. He says uh-oh when something falls on the floor. When I get home from work, he goes "mamamamamama." He'll also say dada with a little coaxing.

-We again know what it's like to sleep until we wake up on our own! Jack sleeps 12 hours straight now which is wonderful. This means my body wakes me up instead of a crying hungry baby! I forgot how awesome that is.

-At the beginning of February I took a quick trip home to Utah with Jack. It was only 3 days if you don't count the travel days, since that was all I could get off work, but it was wonderful. My grandma came down and we all spent some much-needed time together, and we celebrated Jack's first birthday. Poor Derek. He got to watch it all on video when we got home, though. I ate at Cafe Rio 3 times while I was there. There's just no substitute for it here in Erie.

Other than that, well, things are good. Derek is nearing the end of year 1 in medical school. I've almost got my first year of RN experience. This summer we are planning a longer vacation home to see friends and family (and the Rio of course). I really can't complain, life is good.

The Best $30 I Ever Spent

Warning: this post is about breast pumping. Should the subject make you uncomfortable, stop reading now.

Jack is almost 1 year old. For the first three months of his life I was a full time student doing 12 hour clinical rotations and for the last five months I've managed to successfully work full time as a nurse and continue to breastfeed him without needing to supplement with formula. My goal was to get to a year, and I've pretty much made it. He eats enough other foods now that I've been able to stop pumping at work, but I do still pump at home from time to time. And I still have a freezer full of milk so I think we'll get to a year just fine without formula (his birthday is February 5th).

Since I've managed to do this, I thought I'd share some tips for my friends who are currently doing the same thing or are considering it. I found a lot of tricks along the way that made it much easier.

The first and most important thing is to bite the bullet and buy a nice pump. I have the Medela Pump in Style, which goes for $280 new.
Sounds expensive, but it pays for itself quickly. I did the math once, and I can't remember the numbers exactly, but I think it pays for itself in about 3 months compared to buying formula. And if you consider that you'll use it for future children, it's definitely worthwhile. Also, I have seen it on sale at Target for $220. So if you plan ahead and watch for it to go on sale you can probably get a good deal.

I've heard the Avent Isis is a good one, too. I also think WIC provides pumps, so if you're on WIC that's an option. The important thing is, if you're going to be working full time, to get a double electric pump that will maintain your supply and make it so you can pump as quickly as possible.

For me, one of the worst parts of pumping was washing bottles. Jack wouldn't take the bottles that came with the pump. So I'd be pumping into those bottles, then transferring it to another bottle that he'd take, then putting the rest in bags to freeze.

It took me until he was 7 months or so before I figured out an easy way around this. (I so wish I had thought of this from the beginning!) I started pumping directly into the bags. Here is the setup:
So simple, that I cant believe I didn't think of it sooner. You just tape the bag onto the pump and you've saved yourself a bunch of hassle. I just pump right into the bags and then throw the bags into the freezer when I get home. No bottle washing! For even less washing, we use the bottles with the liners. All we ever wash is nipples and the actual pump parts, which are all fine to go in the dishwasher. (I also bought myself an extra set of pump parts for a few bucks on ebay so I don't have to wash those as often. That was helpful too.)

And finally the biggest lifesaver of all and the reason for the title of the post: the hands-free pumping bra. I discovered this, thankfully, right before I started my job. As a nurse there really isn't extra time on my shift for pumping, so I have to squeeze it in on my lunch break. Eating and pumping at the same time sounds really difficult, right? Nope. It's too hard to explain so here's a picture (not of me, of course).
Yep. It really works. I can sit and eat my lunch, talk on the phone, read a book or whatever while I pump. This gives me my whole lunch break to pump, which for me is sufficient and I don't have to try to get away any more than that. If you're lucky enough to have a job where you can get away more often, or you could get away with pumping at your desk, then I don't see how it could be any easier. I know it looks like it wouldn't work or that the attachments wouldn't stay in place, but they do. No leakage, no slipping, nothing. Even with the bags completely full. (It might be harder if you happen to really well endowed. I wouldn't know :)) All you need is a room with a door that locks and an electrical outlet, which I'm lucky enough to have at work (I know not every work place can provide this, so best of luck).

I only know for sure that the brand of pumping bra I have works, so I'm not going to recommend any others. It's called Simple Wishes Hands-Free Breastpump Bra.
I honestly can't understand why it doesn't just come with the pump. I can't believe I spent those first three months at clinical holding the blasted things in place! Now that I've been using it for a while I don't know how I ever did without it!

So, there you go. That's how I've managed to work and pump for most of the first year of Jack's life. It's a pain sometimes, but it was really important to me so with a combination of luck and shortcuts I found a way to make it work. And you can too. If anyone out there has any more tricks, please share them with me :)

Why I Love My Job

Yesterday at work I got to be a part of one of the most touching deliveries I've seen so far. Every delivery is emotional, as there is nothing quite like watching new parents meet their baby, but this one was extra special.

The woman delivering the baby was a surrogate. She had 3 children of her own and had volunteered to carry a baby for another couple. I don't know exactly whose egg and sperm were involved, but the ones who would be taking the baby home were present, as was the husband of the pregnant woman. I didn't ask why they were in this situation since it wasn't relevant to my job, but obviously the couple who wanted a baby thought this was never going to happen for them.

As the baby started to crown, the mother watched and tears poured down her face. She repeatedly said that she thought this day would never come. I'll never forget the look on her face when the baby came out and she cut the cord (it was everything I could do not to start crying). The baby (a boy) had a little bit of a difficult delivery and needed to go straight to the warmer for an assessment, and I told the mother to go over and see him. She ran over to see her son and I stayed to take care of the woman who had just delivered.

The woman who delivered the baby laid in bed and watched the new mom bond with her son. I really don't know what the emotional implications of being a surrogate would be, and I don't know what kind of connection she felt with the baby. But she seemed very happy for this new mother. That is obviously a tremendous sacrifice--to give up your body for 9 months and risk possible complications so that someone else can have the opportunity to be a parent. What a special moment to be a part of. And that's why I love my job.

Halloween

Update: the bouncer has not been the magical cure-all we thought it would be. Okay, we didn't really think it would be. It was more of a flimsy little hope. But Jack is starting to like it and he will entertain himself for 20 minutes or so with it. It doesn't seem to make him tired though. I think he spit up on himself so that's why he's not wearing any clothes in the video.


This weekend we dressed up Jack in his first Halloween costume. We are die hard Harry Potter fans so we thought it would be fun to dress up as Ron and Hermione and have Jack be an owl. Turns out it's really expensive to get full Harry Potter costumes so we just went with the scarves but I think we did a pretty good job at turning Jack into an owl. Notice the letter tied to his leg :)

In other news, our trusty blue Honda Civic named Steve has officially bitten the dust. It wasn't the car's fault. Derek and Jack got into a wreck. They were fine, but the car was not. It's an old car, so it's not worth that much, but it would have lasted us a long time. We replaced it with another Civic that will hopefully last just as long as Steve would have. It's a little older but has the same number of miles, and it runs great. Here's a picture of Steve after the wreck.

That car was supposed to last all the way through medical school and maybe even residency. Hopefully the new one will.

I love love love Fall. It's definitely my favorite season. I think my favorite part is pumpkin desserts. I've made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies 3 or 4 times already, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving to make pumpkin pie. Fall is really beautiful here because of all the trees. I've been having fun taking pictures of Jack in the leaves. He always tries to eat them.
That's what's new with us. Happy Fall everyone!

Tired tired tired!

Jack is in a new phase where he WILL NOT take a nap for me. If Derek or the babysitter is taking care of him, he'll take 4 (yes 4!) hour naps. For me he will usually only do 2. Except in the last week or so where he will not nap AT ALL for me! He gets so excited and just wants to play or eat all the time. This is a problem today especially because I have to work tonight and I need to get some sleep!

So, even though Derek is supposed to be studying for a big final on Monday, I sent him to Target to buy this:
The hope is that Jack will jump so much that A. he entertains himself and I can sleep and Derek can study, and B. that he gets really tired and will take a super long nap.

Will it work? Probably not. But it's worth the slim chance that it will to me. It's amazing how many ways there are to make suckers out of us parents, isn't it?

Not Dead

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever. I'm not dead, just crazy busy. I always feel like no one really cares what's going on with me anyway, and they probably don't, but I love keeping up with my friends on their blogs so I'd be a hypocrite if I don't at least try to keep mine updated.

My excuse for not blogging: work. Life is pretty crazy right now. Here's how it goes when I work day shift: Up at 5:30. Lightning fast shower. Get dressed. Breakfast. Pump. Wake up Jack. Get him dressed and fed. Derek drives me to work by 7 and the Jack to the babysitter and then himself to school by 8. Derek picks up Jack at 4 or 5, depending on the day. Pick me up from work at 7:30. Go home, eat dinner, and put Jack to bed. Go to bed and do it all again.

Luckily, this is only 3 days a week, and usually only 2 in a row. The good news is that soon we will be getting a new car to ease the driving burden on Derek!

Still, we have found time to do some fun things. I'll post about those soon.

For now, I'm just going to do a little developmental update on Jack. He's a busy little boy and is constantly exploring. He has started to scoot on his tummy but mostly he just rolls to get around. We got him a walker and he loves being upright and feeling like he's a part of everything. Also, he's proving to be a good little eater. He loves peas, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, cheerios, and bananas. Oh, and meatloaf. Yes, meatloaf.

I went crazy taking pictures the other day.

He loves playing with leaves! He kept trying to eat them.
I love this kiddo!
What a handsome boy.

Netflix

Derek is gone from 7:30 am to 6 and 7:30 pm to 10 every day. I am at home with Jack. There are no sidewalks in our neighborhood so we can't go on walks. The only park nearby smells like pot. You can only go grocery shopping and to the library and to playgroups so many times. I haven't started my job yet, and Jack is pretty happy to play with his toys on the floor or nap. This leads to a boring, boring, boring life. There is one thing that has saved me:
I don't know why it never appealed to me before we moved here. Maybe it's because I don't like waiting for movies to come in the mail (I didn't know you could stream them!), maybe it's because I was a student and didn't have much time for movies anyway. But now I've decided it's the best thing ever. We stream movies directly to our Wii. So basically a giant library of movies and TV shows is available to me, while I sit on the couch (and we wonder why our society is unhealthy...lol).

Now I'm going to tell you how lazy I've been, as evidenced by how much I've watched.
1. All of Pushing Daisies. It's a great show, it's a shame it got canceled.
2. Two seasons of Arrested Development, which I've seen before, but I forgot how hilarious it is.
3. Several documentaries--One about Wal-Mart (never shopping there again, BTW. I've always hated it but that documentary was the push I needed to swear it off altogether.) Also lots about food, such as Super Size Me, Food Inc, and some other similar ones.
4. Workouts! I love being able to do a different one every day! See, I'm not totally lazy.

The other thing I do to entertain myself is to dress up Jack and take pictures of him. Here's a recent gem.

Missionaries

I have two pretty awesome siblings. I'm the oldest, Holli is two years younger than me, and Ryan is two years younger than her. They're both doing something pretty remarkable right now. Holli has been serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Fiji for the last 10 months. Ryan left on a mission just this week, and will be serving in North Carolina.

Since I'm the oldest, I'm the one that should be the good example, right? But I'm not. These two have taught me a lot more than I've taught them. It takes an amazing amount of faith to put your life on hold to spread the gospel. I'm so proud of the two of them. I love you guys!

Derek's First Day

Derek took off for his first day of medical school today! We are both a little nervous--Derek for obvious reasons, and me because I know he's going to be gone most of the time. But I know he's going to do great. Derek has determination like nothing I've ever been able to muster up. It's taken him this far, and it will take him all the way to being a full-blown doctor. I'm so proud of him! Here's some pictures of his first day.


Yay Derek! He has to wear a shirt and tie to school every day. He's not thrilled about it, but I definitely had fun picking out a whole new wardrobe for him!

New Job

As promised, here are the details on my new job. I got hired in Labor and Delivery, full time, at a big hospital here in Erie. I start training August 24, because it takes a while to do clearances (background check, physical, etc). I interviewed a week ago and got to shadow a nurse for a while. I told them that I really liked the unit, and they told me they needed to check my references. They checked them, and called me yesterday to offer me the job!

I would like to take this opportunity to stick it to anyone who told me one of the following:
1. You have to do at least a year of med/surg nursing to get anywhere
2. New grads never get hired straight into specialties like L&D
3. You have to do a capstone in L&D to get a job there (I did capstone in ICU)
4. The market is really tight for new grads right now so don't be disappointed if you can't find a job right away (this is the only one I interviewed for, and one of two I applied for)

I have had all these things said to me at some point (although likely not by anyone who reads my blog, so this is really just me venting). It feels good to prove them wrong! I'm glad I didn't listen, or I'd be stuck in med/surg right now. I know some people love med/surg, but I really don't. It would have been a hard year for me if I'd had to do that. In addition, I'm grateful that the market here in Erie is good for nurses. I know some of my friends have had a really hard time finding jobs.

I'll be on a day/night rotation, which basically means as the new employee I'll get all the shifts that no one wants (nights, weekends, holidays). But this is actually great for me. First, those shifts pay more. Second, most of the time, I won't have to worry about childcare. Derek is home on nights, weekends and holidays so he can take care of Jack. My initial plan was to be a stay at home mom during medical school, but when the reality of the gigantic loans we would need for that hit, I decided to look for a job. After all, nursing is probably one of the most flexible jobs out there--3 days a week equals full time and shifts are available on whatever days you need them.

I'm still in the excited phase. I'm sure the overwhelmed, terrified phase will hit soon. Wish me luck!

Critters

Derek and I were watching a thunderstorm through our sliding glass door tonight.

We've seen lots of critters here. Chipmunks are everywhere and we've seen a couple bunnies.

But tonight we saw one that actually scared us and made us forget all about the storm.

A skunk--yes, a skunk--took a leisurely stroll across our porch while we watched.

I had never seen a skunk that wasn't dead or a cartoon. Until now.

I would have been happy to never see one in real life. Thank you, Pennsylvania.

Lake Erie

Life has been a blur since we got to Erie! It's been wonderful to have no responsibilities and just enjoy life. Too bad that can never last long. Derek starts school on Monday, and I just got a job (which is another post). But in the meantime we've just been organizing our townhouse, and exploring Northwestern Pennsylvania (not that there's much to explore).

The best thing about Erie is of course the lake. If you've ever been to any of the great lakes you know that you might as well be at the ocean--they are huge! You can't see the other side, and the waves are bigger than you'd think (maybe a little smaller than the Gulf of Mexico). Lake Erie is beautiful. Here's a picture of us on the beach.
We stuck our feet in the water, expecting it to be freezing cold. But it wasn't--it was pleasantly warm! You could easily swim in it. We haven't found time to do that yet but hopefully we will before Summer is over.

Just yesterday we went rollerblading on a trail along an alcove of the lake. It was pretty hot and humid but fun nonetheless. Jack loved riding in his stroller with Derek pushing it on rollerblades, probably because it was faster than the usual walking.
So it turns out there IS some fun stuff to do in Erie! You should definitely come visit :)

Let's see...what else have we been up to? I can't find a food co-op for produce only here, I can only find ones where you get beef, eggs, etc, which would be great, but they're pretty expensive. Maybe someday. We did, however, find a really great farmer's market that has lots of really good locally grown produce. We've made some excellent salsa with it and will be doing more soon.

Now for a developmental update on Jack! He finally started rolling over a couple days ago. He started sitting up several weeks ago, and that's not really supposed to happen until after rolling over, but he's finally all caught up. He loves to be up with mommy and daddy, doing whatever we are doing. We used to be able to just put him on the floor with some toys and he'd entertain himself but that doesn't work anymore! He always wants to be held or at least up on our level. That's why we got him this high chair.
He's not eating solid food yet, but he still loves to be up at the table with us when we're eating.

Maybe sometime soon I'll feel inclined to post something informative or interesting, but for now I'm just feeling like being journal-y.

Sick

So of course the week that we are moving in to our new place I come down with the first cold I've had in, like, a year. And of course I gave it to Derek. It's not anything too bad, but enough to be really annoying. I'm sure that the diet of fast food we've lived on as we've been getting our kitchen into working order hasn't helped.

Jack, thankfully, has not shown any signs of having a cold. But he does hate it that I have one. For some reason, sneezing and nose-blowing scare him to death. If I sneeze or blow my nose while nursing, he let's go, looks at me with wide terrified eyes, and screams until I latch him back on. Maybe it makes the milk shoot really hard into his mouth--I don't know. All I know is that I'll be glad when this cold is gone.

But other than the cold, things are going swimmingly! We love our new place. It is huge compared to our last apartment. It has a basement with a washer and dryer and lots of storage space, a main floor with a living room, kitchen and bathroom, and an upstairs with two bedrooms and a bathroom. For once we actually have a place to put everything! The main floor is about the size of our entire old apartment. And here's the kicker--the rent is about the same. Once we get it all organized I'll post some pictures.

Derek starts school a week from Monday. And we want to make a trip to Pittsburgh this week (it's the closest big city, and it has Ikea and Costco! Yes!) Life is good!

Sorry about this rather boring update--if you're still reading you must really love me :)